Lemon Cheese Cake...."Lucy Goosey"

Momma's "Lucy Goosey"

This is a picture of  "Lucy Goosey." The mother goose left her egg unattended so Momma took it over to my brother Steve's chicken incubator and waited for her to hatch. She was raised with the chicks she shared the incubator with. When she was large enough mother let her roam the yard with her. The other geese didn't accept Lucy to begin with. They chased her away, they wouldn't let her swim with them or eat with them. The herd chased Lucy and she ran straight to mother every time. For several months she had her own custom goose condo! She and mother were so tight that Lucy  actually rode on the golf cart seated next to mother! I missed that picture by a few seconds. Skeeter, mother's dog ran Lucy off before I could snap it. Eventually the other geese accepted Lucy. Now she roams the barn yard in the mornings with the others snatching up the loose horse feed, and sleeps and swims among all of them. And yes she still comes to mother when she calls her. :)

Momma's lemon cheese cake will be a special treat this Easter weekend. She uses Duncan Hines Butter cake mix and makes this wonderful creamy lemon icing. We are having our family reunion Saturday and this cake will be on the table! For a few minutes anyway!!

Lemon Cheese Cake

Bake Duncan Hines Butter Cake Mix in 4- 8" well greased and floured round pans. In my oven for 4 layers it takes about 12 min. at 375 degrees until they test done with toothpick. As soon as you take the cake out of the oven run a sharp knife around the edge to loosen. Let stand in the pan for a few min. Then turn the layers out on a cooling rack of a clean cotton dish towel.

Lemon Cheese Icing

3 large or 4 medium to small lemons zested and squezzed
8 egg yolks
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 egg white

Seperate the eggs while they are cold.

Mix together lemon juice and zest, egg yolks, sugar and butter, and 1 egg white in large sauce pan. Cook over medium heat until thick enough to spread. Stir constantly do not leave it. This will probably take about 10 min. Remove from heat and let stand until cool enough to touch, then ice cake.

Lay small strips of wax paper on cake plate where the edges of cake layers will lay to keep icing off plate. When cake has cooled and the icing has cooled to point where you can touch without being burned layer icing and cake. Ice sides of cake also. Let stand for an hour and remove wax paper. Store at room temperature in Cake Dome. Do not refrigerate.

Old Friends....Bacon Tomato Dip

This past Saturday, at the farm, I hosted, along with Elizabeth Rich and Lisa Coleman, a bridal shower for Hannah Farris, bride to be of John David Lewis. We had a simple menu. Everyone wanted the recipes so I am posting them here on granny lessons, and mailing the bride to be a copy for her new recipe file! We had a good time. It is such a great joy to see John David and Hannah so happy! Donna Lewis, John David's mother has been a close friend of mine since we were about 14 years old. A long time! I am so very blessed to have had these wonderful women in my life for such a long time. We all still feel like we are 20 when we get together! No matter how long we have been apart when we get together it's like we saw each other yesterday.It's comforting to know that no matter what happens we are all there for each other. I love you guys and I am thankful for every minuet we have together.


The menu for Saturday's shower was real simple. We had Chicken salad, Bacon tomato dip, Pinwheel sandwiches, mixed fresh fruit, and vegetables with cucumber dill dip. Lisa made some yummy brownies marbled with cream cheese and mini pecan muffins. And of course we had to go to Rolen's Bakery for some of their classic cheese straws. For drinks we had sweet and unsweet tea and regular and diet coke and Granny Jane's sweet lemon mint tea.


I am posting the Bacon Tomato Dip and the Pinwheel sandwich recipes for you. Hope you have a great week. :)

Bacon and Tomato Dip

6 medium size ripe tomatoes chopped or a quart of cherry tomatoes cut in half

2 lbs. bacon fried crispy

2  bunches chopped green onions

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh basil (optional)

1 8 oz package cream cheese room temperature

2 Tablespoons sour cream

Salt and pepper to taste

Peel tomatoes and chop into small pieces.

Chop green onions including green tops fine

Chop basil fine

Mix together tomatoes, onions, and basil. Cover tight and refrigerate for several hours or over night.

Cook bacon crispy and let cool. Chop fine and reserve until just before you are ready to serve.

About an hour before you are ready to serve remove tomato mixture and drain. Mash room temperature cream cheese with fork, add sour cream and mix in bacon. Reserve about 2 tablespoons of bacon to sprinkle on top. Lightly fold in the tomato mixture carful not to crush the tomatoes. Place in serving dish and sprinkle with remaining chopped bacon. Serve with “Scoops” corn chips.

This will serve about 30- 35 people appetizer portions.

You can also serve on a bed of lettuce for a luncheon dish with crackers of your choice.

Pinwheel Sandwiches

1 package flour tortillas

1 package cream cheese room temperature (regular or fat free)

2 Tablespoons sour cream (regular or fat free)

1 package Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix

1 yellow bell pepper chopped

1 small jar pimentos

1 large cucumber chopped fine

Using a fork mash the room temperature cream cheese until soft and creamy. Mix in the ranch dressing mix and sour cream. Set aside and chop vegetables. You can use any vegetable you like. Carrots chopped fine are good and broccoli florets are good cut up fine also. Just make sure that you drain tomatoes if you use those. Wet vegetables will make the wraps soggy and that’s not good.

Working on a flat clean surface, take one tortilla and cover the entire tortilla with cream cheese mixture. Lightly sprinkle vegetables on three fourths of the tortilla covered with cream cheese. Roll the tortilla toward the side not covered with the vegetables. If you put vegetables on entire tortilla they fall out and make rolling difficult. By covering the entire surface of the tortilla with the cream cheese, the cream cheese serves as a binder for the roll up.

After you roll the tortilla, place it on a platter seam side down. When you have rolled all of the tortillas, cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour or over night.

Remove and cut off uneven ends of tortillas. Slice with serrated knife into ½ inch thick slices. Cover with plastic wrap and return to refrigerator until you are ready to serve.

Bacon is really good added to these roll up pinwheel sandwiches but since we were having bacon in the bacon tomato dip I didn't add bacon. You can also add chopped dry beef or prosciutto ham. Get creative and Enjoy.

Sweet Filling for Pinwheel Sandwiches

For a sweeter pinwheel use the following ingredients and roll same as above.

1 package cream cheese room temperature

2 tablespoons sour cream

1 cup drained crushed pineapple

¼ cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans

Pinch of salt if using unsalted nuts

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh mint

Dash of reserved pineapple juice

Drain pineapple for an hour. Reserve juice.

Mix together cream cheese, sour cream, mint and dash of pineapple juice. Let stand for about 20 min. You want this mixture to be easy to spread but not wet.  

Spread cream cheese mixture on entire tortilla, sprinkle pineapple and chopped nuts on ¾ of tortilla then roll, and place seam side down on tray, refrigerate for at least 1 hour and cut into ½ inch thick pieces.

You can use fat free cream cheese and sour cream.....avoid the calories!

"Pure".... Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

This is a recipe granny made often. If she didn't have all the ingredients she would add in what she had.
She often cooked chicken by browning it without flour until browned and tender. Browning the chicken first and them baking with gravy gives an extra layer of flavor and a crunchy texture to the meat even though it's baked with all those juicy good veggies.
She usually served this over rice or mashed potatoes.

Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

1 roasting chicken cut into pieces for serving
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion minced
1 green pepper chopped
2 carrots chopped
6 mushrooms chopped
1 fresh tomato or 1/4 cup canned tomato
1 cup water
1 teaspoon paprika
Salt and Pepper
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon flour

Melt butter, add onion, and cook until lightly browned.  Salt and Pepper chicken and cook until well skin is browned. Add bell pepper, carrots, mushrooms, tomato. Mix paprika and water and pour over chicken and vegetables. Cover and cook 350 degrees for about 30 min. or until tender. Mix flour and sour cream together and stir into vegetables and drippings. Cook 3 more min.

I am including a picture taken in the Ga. mountains. Daddy loved to tell a story about taking Granny to the Smokey Mountains National Park. They were just outside the National Park around the Cades Cove area and Granny looked up and saw a grave yard on the side of the mountian and she said, "Well my word Doyle, there is a pure graveyard up there on that mountain." Daddy responded with " Yea people die up here too Momma."  "Pure" was an adjective she used usually when she was amazed with or surprised by something. Like, "Oh Katie, there's a pure flea on that puppy."  Or "There's a pure ring on that table! Your Grandpa just won't use a coaster!"
Another story about a trip to the mountains with Granny and Momma Peacock. First of all let me tell you Momma Peacock always referred to Granny as Mrs. Holland and Granny referred to Momma Peacock as Mrs. Peacock. Always. Never first names of Luvern or Lota. Not even after knowing each other for 60 years! That was norm for all of their neighbors and friends, their age. It was always "Mrs. Childs" and "Mrs. Branton" and "Mrs. Snell" and "Mrs. Roney."
Momma was driving and Momma Peacock and Granny were in the seats in the middle of the SUV. They were talking non stop about everything, as usual. Just north of Atlanta, Granny says "Well Mrs Peacock, I don't know where we are right now but seems we should be getting close to Atlanta."  Momma Peacock responds with, " I don't know either Mrs. Holland, but we can't be to Atlanta yet we hadn't come to the first red light."  Momma laughs and tells them they drove through Atlanta about 45 miles back..... on the interstate....no "Red Lights."  :)

Black Rock Mountain, Ga. State Park, looking North East toward
 Highlands, North Carolina